A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 901 



ORGANIZING FOREST PROPERTIES 



As in the case of any other property to be operated over a long 

 period of time, carefully planned development and operation will add 

 largely to the value of forest property and will increase the returns. 

 Definite plans should therefore be made covering development and 

 the main phases of operation for a period of five or ten years. These 

 plans must consider engineering phases together with production and 

 economic problems. Once the owner has decided to place the property 

 under permanent management, it is natural that he will exercise more 

 care in developing it. This does not always mean spending more 

 money on transportation and like facilities than is spent on the ex- 

 ploitation forest; transportation facilities costing untold millions of 

 dollars have had to be abandoned and written off the books as a result 

 of the liquidation policy of cutting forests. It has been calculated 

 that in a normal year as much as 1,400 miles of logging railroad, 

 equivalent to half a transcontinental line, has been built in the Douglas 

 fir region alone. Under an exploitation policy all this is abandoned and 

 the investment written off in a few years. Under a continuous-pro- 

 duction policy very few temporary facilities are built. Construction 

 is not extended so rapidly, but the structures are permanent. 



Since methods of handling forest stands for continuous production 

 vary for different types, they will be discussed separately for each 

 region, later in this section. The subject is raised here only to point 

 out that all operations in the timber should be planned systematically 

 for a reasonable period of years. The plans should provide both for 

 obtaining current income from cuttings and for conserving permanent 

 productivity. 



Obviously, when such planning is to be performed, the measures 

 prescribed must be attached to specific portions of the property. 

 This necessitates mapping, and laying out permanent subdivisions 

 with roads or topographic features as boundaries, so that extraction 

 of forest raw materials can be carried on in the most economical man- 

 ner when and where prescribed. 



The planning just discussed will include budgeting the annual 

 financial operations. The following headings suggest the main items 

 usually included in such a budget: 

 A. Operating account : 

 Expense : 



1. Administration 



2. Taxation 



3. Protection 



4. Engineering and construction maintenance 



5. Insurance 



6. Capital charges (annual) 



(a) Interest 



(b) Depreciation 



7. Silvicultural costs 



8. Other costs 

 Income : 



1 . From sale saw logs or timber 



2. From sale pulp wood 



3. From sale posts and poles, etc. 



4. From grazing 



5. From recreation, etc. 



